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as it ought, might well cause the stoutest heart to tremble, lest by any neglect of the poor he should incur that charge, which at the last hour will extinguish all hope to the guilty, and which will sever those who have hid their "good things," selfish and unprofitable, from those good things for ever, and exclude them from better which they might have had, and which are in store for those whom they have neglected. "Then shall He say unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited Me not. Then shall they also answer Him, saying, LORD, when saw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me." Here, if in no other place, we have our LORD's assurance of His identifying Himself with the poor and needy; an unfolding of our text in a manner which no one can gainsay; a plain declaration that His representatives upon earth are the poor. Let us now consider

II. Their dues in the sight of GOD. Their dues are "pity" and assistance. Their situation is not of their own choosing; it happens in that never failing providence of GOD, Who ordereth all things both in heaven and earth, which we acknowledge by His will; Who maketh poor, and Who putteth down one and setteth up another; by Whom kings reign and princes decree justice; Who under the most favoured circumstances of the most favoured nations, which He had chosen to Himself to be a people of inheritance, a peculiar people, a holy nation above the nations of the earth, has assured that nation, that amongst them "the poor shall never cease out of the land." He made them to call forth the sympathies of their more highly favoured brethren, that there never might be wanting the exercise of those graces of charity and benevolence which should constantly improve the character of those who exercised them; which should keep alive the remembrance of their own dependence on the ALMIGHTY, by the uncertainty of all earthly possessions; which should make self-denial their daily habit, keep alive in their own bosoms the recollection that they are not their own, but God's; that nothing which they possess is their own, that they are merely the stewards of GOD in all which they have, and that as such it behoveth them to consider wherefore He intrusted them with goods to the amount He had, what object was to be achieved, how He was to be glorified, and how that which had been committed to them should be turned to the best account. They were instructed particularly as to what disposition of mind they should cultivate; what avoid as the recipients of

GOD's good things, as well as in the remembrance of past evil things; experienced either by their forefathers or themselves. "When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy GOD; thou shalt remember the LORD thy GOD, for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth." "Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondsman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy GOD redeemed Thee." "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy GOD giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart.” "Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, and thine eye be evil towards thy poor brother, and he cry unto the LORD against thee." There was to be universal sympathy among that holy nation in suffering as well as in joy, the one in order to the other, for universal benevolence leads to universal joy. "Thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy gate, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, and thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondsman in Egypt. The same remembrance is enjoined under the Gospel with equal distinctness, perhaps with more. "Let brotherly love

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continue." "Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." The intimate connection which exists between the various members of the human body, the Apostle S. Paul brings forward as an illustration of that which God requires should exist between the members of CHRIST'S Body, the Church. "Nay much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary;" upon these we bestow more abundant honour. God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part that lacked, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another; and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honoured, all members rejoice with it. "Now ye are the Body of CHRIST and members in particular." The absence of such sympathy is the absence of the love of GOD, the want of that proof of the indwelling in the soul with which all other advantage, however they may distinguish the individual, will in the end prove utterly useless to his final happiness. "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." "Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of GOD in him?" "He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love; and this command have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also." But this disposition will and must manifest itself in acts. The text speaks of lending unto the poor, a term in Scripture synonymous with giving; for when GOD com

manded the Children of Israel to borrow of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold, together with all other things which they required to their own honour and the spoiling of the Egyptians, with the intent that they should never be given back, but retained either for their use in their journey to the Promised Land, or as memorials when they should be established there, it is said that the Egyptians lent them such things as they required; they. urged these things upon the people as things which they should keep for their own use; by means of which they might be enabled to leave Egypt without delay, for they said, "We be all dead men." We find accordingly in the Mosaic Law, when it is said, "thou shalt not harden thine heart," it is added, "nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth." "Therefore I command thee, saying, Defend the poor; see that such as are in need and necessity have right. Do justice to the afflicted and needy," The injunction is repeated, "Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor and thy needy in thy land." The same is the instruction given to the Christian Church, only, as in most other cases, instructions are to charity in a larger degree. "Thereby perceive we the love of GOD, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, (i. e. only, or in comparison,) but in deed and in truth." Active benevolence is set forth by the HOLY GHOST as the mark of the HOLY SPIRIT'S influence in the soul, the test whereby we may assure ourselves of the possession of spiritual life, and thus have confidence before GoD both now and hereafter. "Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him; for if our heart condemn us, GoD is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things: beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward GOD; and hereby we know that He abideth in us by the Spirit which He hath given us." But if in charity towards the poor thus much is required that man should lend of such things as he needs, with what tenfold force is that the same requirement binding in all things respecting the wants of his soul, respecting the publication of those good tidings so emphatically spoken of as belonging to the poor," to the poor the Gospel is preached," for which very expressive use the prophet foretells the descent of the Anointed of the FATHER full of grace and truth. "He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel unto the poor." If one of the first ministrations of CHRIST was to announce the fulfilment of this prophecy, "this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears," we may gather how important a matter it is, that wherever the poor are it may still be said, as to every Christian ordinance, as to every facility of accommodation for them, "the poor have the Gospel preached unto them." For this the

Apostle of the Gentiles lived, and died; for this will all who view the matter as GOD would have them, labour. "I am a debtor both to the Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and unwise. So much as in me is I am ready to preach the Gospel." "For it

is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith." We come now to

consider respecting the poor,

III. GOD's recompense to those who render unto them their dues. “Look, what he layeth out, it shall be paid him again." Here is the promise of an equivalent to the utmost that can be expended upon the poor, enough to satisfy the most calculating upon profit and advantage: but when that equivalent is explained by other passages of Holy Scripture, when it is shown to mount up to a hundred fold interest in this world, and then to an everlasting remembrance by GOD in that which is to come; it is wonderful that men do not hasten so to lay out what God has intrusted to them, even with the avidity of the early Church before alluded to; when every member was agreed; when they were of one heart and soul in this respect; when although composed in the most part of the lowest orders, the poorest of the people, the Christian Church yet had no member which lacked, no one overlooked, no one who said aught of the things which he possessed was his own, but who for the love they felt towards the brethren, love which they felt towards the SAVIOUR, ever present in the midst of their Church, took joyfully the spoiling of goods, eagerly associated themselves with the needy, the persecuted, at the risk of life as well as goods and liberty; called them brethren, their family, their glory; like Moses, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of GOD, than prosperity, however great, apart from them; knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Neither was all this without the warrant of GOD, without the sanction of His word, but in obedience to that word, and in unerring assurance, that they were only acting up to its spirit, and were justified in expecting the present and future blessing promised. "Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto them, because that for this thing the LORD thy GOD shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto." "If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday; and the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of waters whose waters fail not; and they that be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations," be doing a lasting good to posterity, and thou shalt be called " the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to

dwell in." "He that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he." Such promises of blessedness in the Gospel dispensation are promised in prophetic song as well as confirmed by CHRIST and His Apostles. "GOD is not unrighteous that He will forget your works and labour that proceeaeth of love, which love ye have showed for His name's sake, who have ministered unto the saints and yet do minister." And though all true disciples of CHRIST will when they have done all which they are commanded, feel and say as enjoined, “we are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our duty to do;" yet he is intended to take all the comfort designed in the above words, and know that what he lays out it shall be repaid to him again. Such is the bearing of that encouragement to the right use of money; "I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations." The Prophet Elijah, at the command of GOD, went to the needy widow of Zarephath, as one more needy than herself. "Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink;" and as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, 1 pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand:" and she said, "As the LORD thy GOD liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, and behold I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die." It seemed a hard demand upon the poor widow, "Make me a cake first and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and thy son." It was hard to prefer a stranger to herself and son. The famine was great, her means wellnigh gone. Happily for her, GOD had commanded her to sustain His prophet. She resisted not GOD; she went and did according to the saying of Elijah, and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days; and the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD. It was to the distinguished honour of the Macedonians, "how that in great trial of affliction, their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality, for to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves, praying us with all entreaty that we would receive the gift." Their example urged upon the Corinthian Church with this assurance, "that he that soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully, for God loveth a cheerful giver." And GoD is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always, having all-sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work, as it is written, "He hath dispersed abroad, He hath given to the poor, His righteousness remaineth for ever." But whatever blessing GOD bestows upon earth, however He repays him that lendeth to the LORD here, the repayment is sure in heaven. Come, ye blessed children of My FATHER, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and ye gave Me meat; thirsty,